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10 Reasons to Love Eggs

We often hear people complain that it is too expensive or challenging to eat healthily. The truth is that there are many real food options that are nutrient rich and won’t break the bank. A perfect example – eggs. When it comes to convenient, affordable and nutritious foods, eggs deliver the perfect package. Eggs play a significant role in mind and body energy, weight management, muscle strength, brain function, eye health and more!

Here are ten reasons eggs should be a part of your daily diet:

1. Eggs are real food – They come unprocessed, in their original packaging, and let *you* decide how to prepare and eat them. Pair them with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy foods and small amounts of heart healthy oil, as part of an overall healthy diet.

2. Nutrient-dense – Eggs have an awesome protein to calorie ratio. One egg contains 6 grams of high-quality protein and all 9 essential amino acids, all for just 70 calories.

4. Lower in Cholesterol – According to nutrition data from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, eggs are lower in cholesterol than nutritionists originally calculated. Over 30 years of research have concluded that healthy adults can enjoy eggs without significantly impacting their risk of heart disease.

5. Great for breakfast – Eggs contain no sugars or carbohydrates, unlike many other breakfast options.

6. Vitamin D, naturally – Eggs are one of the few foods naturally containing vitamin D, an important nutrient many Americans lack in their diet.

7. Eggs-cellent vision – Lutein and zeaxanthin are two antioxidants found in eggs that may help prevent macular degeneration, a leading cause of age-related blindness. While eggs contain small amounts of these two nutrients, research shows that the lutein and zeaxanthin from eggs may be more bioavailable (or better utilized by the body) than from other sources with higher content, including supplements.

8. Choline – One egg contains about 125 milligrams of choline, making it an excellent source of this essential nutrient required for life’s most basic functions, such as normal cell activity, liver function and transporting nutrients throughout the body.

9. Fast and easy – An egg meal or snack is quick and easy. Simply beat an egg in a small bowl or coffee mug, place on high heat in the microwave for 60 seconds and add it to a toasted whole-grain English muffin. Top with low-fat cheese and a slice of tomato for a balanced meal. It takes less than two minutes to prepare!

10. Eggs make cents – Eggs are very affordable compared to other high-quality protein foods. At just $0.15 each, eggs are the least expensive source of high-quality protein per serving.

My local store only has one brand of organic eggs: $5 for 12. So $0.42 each. Not a big deal but the $0.15 non-organic eggs have GMO’s and antibiotics and I don’t think should be promoted. I wish I could get organic for 15 cents :/

Brian Klein

it’s pretty easy to get eggs from local farmers as well, and the cost isn’t much more. You will notice a firmer, and almost orangish yolk, compared to the pale yellow yolks from the eggs at grocery stores.

The comment about the cholesterol shouldn’t even matter. If you don’t consume enough cholesterol through your diet, your liver will make it for you. If you have high cholesterol levels, it’s likely because you have a high level of systemic inflammation. So the amount of cholesterol you eat does not easily correlate with your cholesterol numbers, but what you eat does affect the numbers.

Containing no carbs is good for people who need a low carb diet, but there are good reasons to eat carbs in the morning. But not cereal or highly processed pancakes, etc. Soaked steel-cut oats, sweet potatoes or sprouted whole wheat bread would be good options.

Chef Mike in Burlington ON

Anybody ever been to high density chicken egg barn?? I have and it is not a place for the fainthearted, it’s noisy, smelly and cramped, the birds rammed together like cordwood…Luckily my wife and I only eat a dozen or so a week so I we’re cool to buy the free range organic ones for $5 a dozen.

Grant Avenue Abe

When deciding whether to include eggs in your diet, consider the recommended daily limits on cholesterol in your food:

If you are healthy, it’s recommended that you limit your dietary cholesterol to less than 300 milligrams (mg) a day.

If you have cardiovascular disease, diabetes or a high low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad”) blood cholesterol level, you should limit your dietary cholesterol to less than 200 mg a day.

One large egg has about 186 mg of cholesterol — all of which is found in the yolk. Therefore, if you eat an egg on a given day, it’s important to limit other sources of cholesterol for the rest of that day. Consider substituting servings of vegetables for servings of meat, or avoid high-fat dairy products for that day.

If you like eggs but don’t want the extra cholesterol, use only the egg whites. Egg whites contain no cholesterol. You may also use cholesterol-free egg substitutes, which are made with egg whites.

Joseph Mercola, D.O., who practices in Schaumburg, Illinois, also operates one of the Internet’s largest and most trafficked health information sites. In 2012, Mercola stated that his site had over 300,000 pages and is visited by “millions of people each day” and that his electronic newsletter has close 1,500,000 subscribers [1]. The site vigorously promotes and sells dietary supplements, many of which bear his name.

In 2004, Medical Economics reported that Mercola’s practice employed 50 people and that he employed 15 people to run his newsletter, including three editors [2]. Much of his support comes from chiropractors who promote his newsletter from their Web sites. Two of his books hit the #2 sales rank on Amazon Books shortly after his newsletter plugged them for the first time. In 2006, according to an article in Chicago Magazine, Mercola stopped practicing medicine to focus on his Web site [3]. I have not seen the fact that he is no longer in practice mentioned on his Web site.

Many of Mercola’s articles make unsubstantiated claims and clash with those of leading medical and public health organizations. For example, he opposes immunization [4] fluoridation [5], mammography [6], and the routine administration of vitamin K shots to the newborn [7]; claims that amalgam fillings are toxic [8]; and makes many unsubstantiated recommendations for dietary supplements. Mercola’s reach has been greatly boosted by repeated promotion on the “Dr. Oz Show.”

Mercola’s Profits

Doug L. Bullock

Isn’t that barrett guy the MD who got kicked out of medicine and now is the mouthpiece of and sellout to big pharma who runs the Quackwatch website which is losing all its court cases when anyone confronts him with facts as opposed to quackwatch’s bullshit?

Abe Schneider

Hi Doug,
No thanks for the wake up call. I got my wake up call at 49 years of age with a surprising heart attack. I’ll be 85 on my next birthday. The doctors who treated me during my heart attack told me I had a high cholesterol
level and should lower it. None of those doctors told me to raise my cholesterol level. I was put on a statin and my cholesterol level was lowered and it remains
low till today.

As far as your grandparents living past 90 because they drenched their eggs and toast in bacon grease is not true. They probably inherited great
genes that protected their blood flow from depositing excessive cholesterol levels. Pray that you inherited the same genes.

Your information that the Framingham study suggests high levels of cholesterol is good, is not true. Here is what that study says.
Today, (((managing cholesterol levels))),
high blood pressure and diabetes to mitigate heart and vascular disease and stroke is fundamental to good medical care. In fact, it’s hard to remember a
time when these and other risk factors were not considered to be significant problems by many physicians.
But, before Framingham, the role of serum
cholesterol in the evolution of cardiovascular disease was not widely understood or accepted by physicians as a major contributing factor. The study
(((established a relationship between the levels of cholesterol and risk for disease))). Further, the study established a strong positive association of LDL
cholesterol with coronary heart disease as well as a powerful inverse and protective effect of HDL levels.

Your comment on Stephen Barrett is not true. Here’s who
Barrett is as outlined in Wikepedia:
Stephen Joel Barrett (born 1933) is an American retired psychiatrist, author, co-founder of the National
Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), and the webmaster of Quackwatch. He runs a number of websites dealing with quackeryand health fraud. He focuses on consumer protection, medical ethics, and scientific
skepticism.
Quackwatch received a 2003 award as a useful source for online consumer information.
Barrett is a 1957 graduate of the Columbia
University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed his psychiatry residency in 1961. In 1967 and 1968 he followed part of a correspondence course in American Law and Procedure at La Salle
Extension University (Chicago). He was a practicing physician until retiring from active practice in 1993, with his medical license listed as “Active-Retired” in good standing: “No disciplinary actions were found for this license.”A longtime resident of Allentown, Pennsylvania,
Barrett now resides in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

I don’t know where you get your cholesterol information? All of it is misleading and false.

Abe

Doug L. Bullock

Abe, Steve Barrett is now losing all his lawsuits because his advice is total bullshit being spouted by big pharma. His credibility is ZERO. He does not practice and has NEVER practiced medicine he was tossed out of the profession and is in his garage trying to make a web based living as big pharma’s BITCH. You should read the final results of Framingham that came out 2 years ago. What you quote is what was quoted 20 years ago. And of course no doctor told you to increase your cholesterol. They don’t read the newest research like Framingham and if they do not tow the line of the AMA and push statins they get their license pulled. Even though what they tell their patients kills so many of them. You are the one with good genes that allow you to still be alive after lowering cholesterol because doing that is deadly to most people. If the cholesterol being too low does not kill them, the statin drugs do. Please read up on NEW research not the 20-30yr old stuff you now believe in. By the way I would not ask a doctor what to eat any more t.han I would ask a plumber to tune my piano. Doctors know zero about nutrition and your health is 90% all about what you eat.

Abe Schneider

Mr. Bullock,
I don’t know where you get your information about Barrett?
Perhaps, it’s the same place you get the rest of your misinformation. Here’s what Wikepedia says about Barrett:
Stephen Joel Barrett[1] (born 1933) is an American retired psychiatrist, author, co-founder of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), and the webmaster of Quackwatch. He runs a number of websites dealing with quackeryand health fraud. He focuses on consumer protection, medical ethics, and scientific skepticism. Quackwatch received a 2003 award as a useful source for online consumer information.

Abe

Doug L. Bullock

Perhaps you should see how the US courts call him unworthy of credibility:

It is common knowledge that Stephen Barrett has been Officially Declared by the US Court System, in a PUBLISHED Appeals Court Decision (NCAHF
v King Bio), to be “Biased, and unworthy of credibility.”

What that statement means, in layman’s terms, simply, is that it is common knowledge that OFFICIALLY – NOTHING HE SAYS CAN BE LEGALLY RELIED UPON.

Most of the fat in a free range egg is found in its yolk. One large free range egg contains 4.5 g of total fat and 1.5 g of saturated fat. As an animal protein, eggs are a source of saturated fat. High intakes of saturated fat increase your blood cholesterol levels and risk of heart disease. On a 2,000 calorie diet you should limit your daily saturated fat intake to less than 15.5 g per day.

Doug L. Bullock

Untrue! Eat as much saturated fat as possible it is now the new health food. Coconut oil, butter are healthiest

Doug L. Bullock

Wake up Grant Avenue Abe, fear of Cholesterol was a 60 year lie. Now after studying cholesterol for 60 years in the Framingham study, we now know that we all want our cholesterol numbers as high as possible which means we will stay healthy and young decades longer. Lowering cholesterol in any way drastically increases risks of all manner of disease especially heart disease. My grandparents fried their eggs in bacon grease and dredged their toast in leftover grease and ate it. They lived past 90 with no heart issues. I always wondered how they could eat so “unhealthy” and yet be healthy and now I know THEY were eating better than me when I was avoiding saturated fats. I now eat as much as possible. It even helps control weight.

Snochik

False. For instance, HDL can be too high and may be an indicator of disease. Any number can be too high or too low. Everything in moderation is best!

Doug L. Bullock

HDL is manufactured by the body and is there when we are under high stress. The body uses cholesterol to make all sorts of stress hormones, some vitamins and also brain cells and all cell walls. We have high cholesterol when our body NEEDS more cholesterol. Lower it at the risk of your health.

Tzipi

Newest research studies say cholesterol nor saturated fats are linked to heart disease or strokes. See NYT article this week on saturated fats.

http://gigieatscelebrities.com/ GiGi Eats Celebrities

I adore eggs, adore them! But I cannot eat them because they exhaust me! It’s very weird, but it’s true!

Sarah

me too! I love love love them but I feel awful after eating them for a day or two. And I have a friend with chickens who is always trying to give me fresh organic eggs. So sad!

Eggs are the product of some of the worst abuse and cruelty in our food system. Half of the chickens are killed at one day old because they are males. They are ground up into feed for other chickens. The “lucky” females get their beaks cut off without anesthesia and then are crowded into battery cages so tight with other birds that they can’t open heir wings or move around. They are fed drugs and hormones and antibiotics for their short lives until they are totally spent and then mercilessly killed in another factory.
Why doesn’t the egg board mention that? Or the cholesterol that is killing us humans?

I am ashamed that Fooducate would publish such an article! Please take me off you making list. You have just sold out to big agribusiness. What is next? Veal? beef? Dog?

pafarmgirl

Then search out humely raised and cared for chickens. It’s not THAT difficult to do, and eggs from chickens raised that way are more nutritious besides the ethical standpoint. Same thing goes for beef or pork. Don’t just shreak about how everything is oh so terrible…do your part to change the status quo.

John

So all the local birds roaming the farms where I live have all thats natural. You make a true statement but in the mass processed egg merchants who only know dollars over bird health. Look for local eggs in your stores and these things won’t inhabit your purchase.

pafarmgirl

Well said, John.

ThinkB4Ueat

yeah but john, who really is ONLY buying local eggs and will refuse to eat anything with eggs in UNLESS they are local?

You are 100 % right. Any organization or website promoting healthy eating and lifestyle should not sell out for any reason. And …. as others have posted , just going for an organic option and not addressing or educating about the horrible abuse of animals in the factory farm setting is just putting your head in the sand and acting ignorant. This GOES for pafarmgirl posting below. $ hungry farmers are the most ignorant of all and most abusive.

pafarmgirl

Did you miss the part where I said ‘search out humanely raised animals’ and ‘do your part to change the status quo’? I live in farm country, and was raised on one; so don’t presume to tell me that I’m ignorant of the way animals are treated on farms! Most farmers treat their animals very well and have a deep respect for them and the land. I am speaking of FAMILY farms, not FACTORY farms (c.a.f.o.’s). You seem to be putting the family farm in the same category as the factory farm which makes YOU seem ignorant. There is a HUGE difference between the two! No one hates the factory farms more than I do. They disgust, sadden, and infuriate me! Please educate yourself and don’t lump the family farmer with the corporate farmer!

Jay

Family farms are often contracted by larger factory farms to do their bidding , both with animals and crops. Money is always a deciding factor , whether from big business or government. Because you live in farm country and supposedly grew up on one , don’t try and put them in some type of different category. We are not talking about someone with a few acres and a dozen chickens and a cow. Perhaps in years past there was a significant difference , but not any more. Any farmer dependent on earning income from their farm that is faced with foreclosure and no government money will 99.9 % of the time put any type of pricipal aside to keep going. Proof of that has already been given many , many times and to put a blind on that is ignorant.

pafarmgirl

I know a lot of farmers and NONE of them would compromise their ethics or heaven forbid EVER abuse an animal! I have no idea where you are from, but family farms DO still exist! And they are as different from c.a.f.o.’s as night from day. I live near half a dozen or more family farms that are thriving. I walked the walk with farming; can you say the same? I’d say you need to educate yourself on the subject, and btw, PETA and their propaganda is not a good way to learn.

cfc912

Oh yeah, this got me so horny for eggs.

JacquieRN

I am surprised at this post as well with information and link to The American Egg Board (AEB).

Excellent (or “egg-cellent”) article on the good-stuff about eggs! I wholeheartedly agree but the suggestion that eggs “prevent” macular degeneration (AMD) is misguided and incorrect. While there is great research about the positive effects of lutein and zeaxanthin in the “support of eye and retina health”, there are no DEFINITIVE studies that show that anything will PREVENT AMD. It has been shown to be effective in SLOWING THE PROGRESSION of the disease (AREDS2 study) but that’s about all we have as far as “solid science” is concerned. Thanks for your good work! Jeffrey Anshel, OD, FAAO President, Ocular Nutrition Society

Bash

Grant Avenue Abe, are you serious?? Cholesterol free egg substitute?? Have you read the ingredients in that crap?? It will kill you. Get a grip, eat a free range egg!

Abe Schneider

Hi Bash,
It looks like you distribute a whole range of misinformation. I answered your comments about eating range free eggs earlier and told you range free eggs are just as bad as eating regular eggs if your concern is limiting cholesterol intake. Now I’ll answer your comment about substitute egg whites having crappy ingredients in them. The container of substitute egg whites I’m looking at right now says the ingredients are 100% liquid egg whites.
Abe

Doug L. Bullock

What affects eye health the most are cruciferous vegetables. and AMD is also affected by what we eat

Csillagfeny

I would skip to use the microwave to use for cooking.Zips the nutritients out,protein converts into cancer causing poison,plus EMF.Otherwise we love eggs!

Doug L. Bullock

A few issues. 1 heart health oils now are saturated fats Not what the “heart assoc.” says. Also Cholesterol is not an issue now that everyone except doctors know that the higher your cholesterol the longer you will live and The most important thing is NEVER MICROWAVE AN EGG or any other food because what you take out of the microwave will have only about 10% of its nutrients left in it. The rest have been turned in

Snochik

False again. Studies have shown that, for some foods, microwaving actually increases the availability of some nutrients. The best method to cook a food depends on the food. While microwaving is not my main method of cooking, I haven’t thrown mine out as I haven’t seen scientifically valid studies to show me that I should. Personal opinions and scientifically valid studies are two different things.

Doug L. Bullock

Yes and the earth is flat too

cutopic

Egg allergy is known to be the second most common food allergen (right after milk). So please use caution with them!
I am highly sensitive to eggs, but the symptoms they cause me are not what one would normally associate with a food allergy: they cause me depression and extreme irritability!
Needless to say, now that I have finally discovered the allergy, I avoid them like the plague!

Mark Faine

It’s terribly irresponsible for fooducate to allow this sponsored content on their site. It seriously damages the credibility of the brand. Eggs are in no way healthy or even safe, and that is not just coming from me from the FDA. See more at nutritionfacts.org

hahahha what a crock of SHIT! you guys have to say “nutrient-dense” because it is illegal to advertise eggs as “healthy”, “safe”, or “nutritious” according to the FDA.
oh and eggs wont impact your risk of heart disease “significantly”…? Look at the phrasing, eggs will still impact your risk of heart disease.

The hysteria about butter, then eggs started in the 70′s. I knew better than to hop on that nonsense, still use both, daily, without weight gain- because I’m active. Not been to a doctor in almost 19 years. They don’t do nothing but prescribe harmful drugs. I manage fibromyalgia & asthma with diet, and being active…and fresh lemonade with fresh ginger. I eat a Middle Eastern diet, make homemade cookies, pies, cakes with butter, eggs, Crisco, lots of walnuts & almonds. Screw the doctors, the nutritionists & the Gov’t! Exercise! Drink water with fresh lime, mint, lemon!

Abe Schneider

Cholesterol/Saturated Fat 101.(From the Internet)

When we talk about health and nutrition, the terms cholesterol and saturated fat are tossed about frequently. We should avoid large amounts of them, but I for one still get confused by the differences between the two. So I thought it might be a good time for a little review.

For starters, cholesterol is a waxy substance made by the liver and it’s used by the body to make hormones, vitamin D, and other materials. It isessential to your body to function normally, and your body makes enough. Cholesterol can also be found in food, and then it is called, quite appropriately, “dietary cholesterol,” and it’s only found in animal products such as meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and dairy. It is especially high inegg yolks and organ meats such as liver, brains, and kidneys.

Blood cholesterol refers to the cholesterol levels in your body, which can be determined by a blood test. Your total cholesterol should be less than 200 mg/dL — HDL (good) cholesterol levels should be 40mg/dL or greater and LDL (bad) cholesterol should be 130 mg/dL or less.

If you eat too much dietary cholesterol (over 300mg a day) the extra will accumulate in the walls of the blood vessels, making your LDL (bad) blood cholesterol levels rise. Over time, your arteries will become narrower, which can cut off the blood supply to your heart (causing a heart attack) or your brain (causing a stroke).

So that is the skinny on cholesterol, and to review a few facts on saturated fat read more.

Saturated fat is not essential to your body. It is found mainly in animal products such as meat, poultry, and dairy. All of these foods also contain dietary cholesterol. Palm oil, palm kernel oil, and coconut oil also contain saturated fats, and a lot of processed foods like cookies and crackers contain these oils. On the box it may say “No Cholesterol,” but if you check the nutritional info, it may still contain saturated fat from those hidden oils. How sneaky. Saturated fats raise LDL (bad) cholesterol levels more than dietary cholesterol itself, so they’re the ones to watch out for. The RDI of saturated fat is 20g or less.

Fit’s Tip: I’m not saying you should ditch the foods you love that contain cholesterol or saturated fat, just make sure you’re staying below the recommended daily level.

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